The Cook Files Vol 5: Chibi Sanji
by AllBlueChaser
Summary: A collection of drabbles on various themes focused on Chibi Sanji. Chapter 17: Sanji goes collecting ingredients for the next lesson in a place he hates,the swamp.
1. Ball

Sanji tugged at his tie ineffectually. To tell the truth he wasn't sure he was enjoying his first experience in a suit very much. The blue striped tie seemed to be determined to choke him and while his pants and shirt were comfortable and not too unlike his chef whites, the suit jacket was comparatively heavy and forced him to move in very purposeful way. That could be good training though. A good chef moved with purpose.

He caught his reflection in the in the window and had to admit it looked good. It made him seem cool and elegant but he wasn't sure if that would be worth the discomfort of being choked. It would be totally be out of place back at the shitty restaurant too since the old man more than proved that you didn't have to look good when you cooked up delicious food.

Sanji had to admit though, here at the big East Blue Invitational Ball, he fit right in (or would if he was maybe five or more years older). All the men were wearing suits, even the old man. He had pulled some strings (or intimidated the right people) to get them in here. The tickets were impossible, invitation only. Zeff looked uncomfortable a few feet from the punch bowl, a Marine in military dress had apparently roped him into trying to recount the story of their rescue from starvation and that damn rock.

Served him right. This was a waste of time. They could be back at Baratie cooking but nooooo…the old bastard said that the problem with a floating restaurant is that people needed to know that it existed if it wanted to be in business for a third year and that meant he and Zeff needed to tell them.

This Ball, it seemed, was pretty much the plan. He didn't understand at first but it was now becoming evident that it was certainly a who's who of important people. Marines, Government, Rich people, and even powerful pirates (Strange, why were they allowed here? No, invited. He corrected. Seemed awfully fishy.). He agreed it would be good for the Baratie if the old man could get even a few of these people to remember that there was a place on the sea with food better than the cuisine they were serving here (that looked fancy but tasted reheated and under seasoned). Yeah, despite his protests at coming, if a chance presented itself, he'd help too. Baratie needed to survive and if that meant sucking up to these people if any wanted to talk to him, he'd do it.

Seems that no one wanted to talk to a brat like him though and meanwhile he was bored. He watched the orchestra with half interest. He always liked music and wondered if it would be worth trying to learn the piano at some point. A bunch of large women brushed past him in their finest and their noses so far in the air you'd think they were royalty. Sanji frowned after them and turned back to the orchestra only to catch the eye of the real thing.

A princess. A princess was standing in front of the orchestra looking around as if making some kind of plan on what to do. She looked to be his age or a little younger, just starting to fill out curves in the half-sleeved honey colored ball gown she wore. He was surprised at himself for noticing it but he couldn't stop himself from staring at her so he supposed he would notice everything. Her hair was a rich burnt orange color and it was cropped short to just beyond her ears. Small pearl earrings and pearl necklace added a refined touch and if she had the right diamond tiara it would complete her ensemble perfectly and give her secret identity away.

Suddenly he was making eye contact with those sparkling brown, intelligent eyes. He was meeting the gaze of this princess across a crowded room! Was he fated to be her fairy tale prince? She smiled at him and started heading his way.

Sanji fiddled nervously with his tie and he forced himself to look away as he tried to catch his breath. By the time she was at her side he couldn't seem to breath at all. She reached her slender arms out to his neck and his face burned with the thought she was about to kiss him. He was starting to get dizzy too actually.

She placed a hand on the knot of the tie and with a hard yank the fabric loosened magically and a swell of oxygen was freed to move into his lungs. He gasped and coughed lightly, feeling really dumb suddenly. Of course he was suffocating that would explain the light headedness.

He smiled sheepishly at her.

"Ha ha…thanks." To his dismay, looking at her made the light headedness return.

"It's your first time, huh? Wearing something like this?" Her fingers patted the tie.

"Ah, yeah."

"That's okay, it looks good on you. It's my first time wearing something so fancy too."

"No way! You're not a princess? But you're so pretty!" She seemed to chuckle at that.

"Were you forced to be here?"

"Sort of. The old man, " He nodded by the punch bowl. "thought he could get more customers for our place if he came. I don't know why I'm here but I'll do what I have to do."

She nodded thoughtfully.

"Not a pirate or marine? Not some diplomats son?"

"Nope! Disappointed?"

"No, but it makes it harder." She sighed with a grin that bordered on regretful..

"Huh?" Sanji cocked his head in confusion but the girl brushed off the question with a shake of her head and tugged playfully on his sleeve.

"Never mind, dance with me?"

"Sorry, I don't know how." Not dance like this anyway, where you didn't just move to the music. This sort of dancing had specific steps. "Wish I did if it meant I could dance with you."

"It's easy!" She took a step back and demonstrated a few steps of the waltz to the music. Sanji was mesmerized by the sight of her spinning the flowing material of gown across the floor in a gentle glide before he realized he knew how to do this.

He spun to glare at the shitty old man. 'Special training' my ass! He wanted to snarl but when Zeff made eye contact, he smirked and then promptly ignored the boy. It infuriated Sanji even more and it occurred to him that while Zeff might be working the room for Baratie, he might have been brought along on the old mans whim to introduce him to more shitty 'culture'.

"Really, It's not that difficult." His attention snapped back to the girl in front of him. The poor girl though his exasperated expression was because of her! Wait a minute, he was just wishing he could do this. Now he could! Screw the old man, he's give him shit for this later.

"No, No." He reassured her. "I just realized I do know how to do this." He stepped forward and awkwardly took her hand. He ignored the quickening of his pulse as her eyes seemed to glitter in amusement at his hesitation and she pulled his hand chastely around her firm waist. Her hand was so light on his back he barely felt it. Definitely different from Zeff's 'special training'.

They looked into each others eyes with a smile and nodded together with the count. 1-2-3 and go! And then they were dancing together, a miniature pair among all the adults swinging around the floor.

Even though he was sure he was leading he noticed that they seemed to find their way dancing near other couples and the fringe of the dance floor quite a bit. Not that he cared. This was fun! She was really charming. A good dancer for someone so young and she laughed as he made an occasion joke or comment with a chime that made him near giddy inside.

She started to pull away and he resisted in question.

"I have to go." She indicated a large clock mounted high and ornately on the wall. Almost midnight. As if on cue the clock started to chime and she grimaced. He looked back at her in stunned silence. It's like a fairy tale afterall! Wait, that made him the prince!

"Don't go yet!" He nearly begged as he opened his grasp and she slipped free.

She turned back toward him and gently placed a kiss on his cheek.

"Thanks for the dance. I can't be late for my ride. You're sweet though. Too sweet."

He was stunned and placed a hand to his cheek where he was kissed. He didn't realize he was blushing. He didn't realize her dress seemed less fluffy as she walked away and he didn't thing to ask why in the hot mid summer weather she wore a dress with sleeves. He could only sigh as she hurried her exit toward the door and relish the tingle on his skin.

He frowned as he realized that this was his first love and he didn't even get her name. His frown deepened as Zeff appeared above him and kept his voice low.

"Time to go. There's a damn thief aboard and we got to leave before the place goes to hell with accusations."

"Accusations?"

"They won't like that we're the only two who kept their wallets after contact with your little girlfriend."

Sanji looked to the door she has just made her escape as he chewed on this.. He made up his mind. A girl like her wouldn't take money if she didn't need it.

"I still want to see her again."

Zeff sighed.

"With your luck kid, I'm sure you will."


	2. Ugly Shirts

Zeff had unwittingly created a monster or perhaps someone else had (and considering the timing he had a decent suspicion on the culprit). The kid wasn't anywhere even near sixteen yet and had more dress shirts and suits than the rest of the chefs aboard the Baratie combined. It was almost laughable now, looking back at how hard it had been to get the brat in his first suit for the black tie event a few months before.

The female customers would ooh and ahh at the cute boy in the suit and unwittingly encourage him further. A clothes horse didn't even begin to cover it and Zeff couldn't help but feel begrudgingly impressed at how Sanji went about selecting pieces and putting them together as if it were a gourmet meal and come out of his room looking sharper and more put together than not only the chefs but the customers as well.

The kid definitely wasn't going to grow up to be some rough pirate that was overly violent and caused trouble, like he had been. No, If clothes man the man then his tiny eggplant was well on his way to being a refined, well thought out, creative, and expensive young man. For that, he could only assume he wasn't doing too bad a job as an accidental parental stand in.

The messenger gull had brought the thickest Doskoi Panda invoice to date this morning and even as he poured over it and blanched at the current outstanding balance, an ink pen was already filling out the appropriate spaces and signing a check in payment. It was up to him to handle the kids finances and since the brat did more than his fair share of work (not that he'd tell him that) he made sure there was an account in the register that was compensated to reflect that. He was dividing the kids share between education (knives, shoes special ordered, and his own starter sets of cookware), future expenses (medical, money for a boat the kid would probably need when he was old enough), necessities (food, clothes, toothbrushes), and luxury (a category that until this point was basically used to buy an occasional birthday present for the other chefs or books). Suits and fine apparel were now a quickly added addition to the luxury category.

He was removing his seldom used reading glasses when the mini haute couture monster in question peaked in and seeing he was busy turned to sneak away. He grinned privately. The kid would never ask him to share a meal with him. Zeff stretched and decided to make his morning appearance for breakfast anyway, since it was about that time.

Sanji made a pretty good omelet for them both and Zeff scoffed at the attempt. That he was pretty sure the kid understood to mean, more salt next time, less oil. Pretty good was still not good enough if he had been watching properly. Sanji grabbed the plates and headed back to the kitchen to wash them with a snort of disapproval at the criticism leaving Zeff to enjoy his morning tea.

The Baratie was slow this morning as it tended to be but he wasn't surprised when the grizzled old trader merchant by the name of Mitzie saddled up next to him at the bar. She was as much of a regular as they got with the sheer amount of traveling she did. Sanji saw her through the kitchen look through and started on her usual order after a quick greeting.

Mitzie elbowed the old chef in the ribs in a way he certainly wouldn't tolerate from anyone else and lowered her voice.

"He's growing up to be quite a looker, Chef."

Zeff grumbled at that. He really didn't want to deal with what that would mean in the future.

"It's such a shame!"

"Shame?"

"He's polite, considerate, neat, clean, and a nice dresser. I have a few friends like that and they don't exactly consider me their type if you get what I'm saying."

It was hard to imagine such a tough as nails old bat like Mitzie being anyone's type so it took a moment to realize what she was getting at. When he did he promptly snorted at the implication.

"I doubt it. He's already becoming a little more of a dumbass around girls everyday." There was a small twinge of doubt pecking somewhere in his brain that he had to acknowledge though. "If he does prefer men, that's alright so long as he's a good one that doesn't take any shit and keeps his skills sharp. Women are nothing but trouble anyway."

"You say that now, ya old buzzard but you've loved hard in the past haven't you? And you know you'd love to see some grand babies running around here at some point."

"Grand...babbies?" He hadn't ever thought of the kid as a full blown adult, in love, and with kids of his own. Little kids running around, calling out, 'Grampa Zeff!' and hugging his leg with all the love and innocence their would be father and grandpa had problems ever consciously showing. He was stunned at the image invading his brain.

"Of course, even if he goes after the gals they might not think him genuine if he's always so perfectly packaged. Ya know? If they don't think he'd be batting for the other team they might think he's hiding something if they can't see no flaw. Sometimes untouchable is just a precursor to lonely."

Sanji emerged from the kitchen with perfect poise carrying two oversized trays of food. Still an impeccable appearance in his well made clothes. The apron helped with that of course but it still showed that his skill was growing that he escaped the flecks of grease and sauce that would sometimes erupt from the pan.

Perhaps Mitzie gave him some food for thought. Lonely was something he sure as hell wouldn't wish on Sanji again. If only the brat wasn't so damn cute to begin with or the clothes weren't so damn formal and serious. His mind drifted back to the Doskoi Panda catalog on his desk they had sent with the invoice. He was getting an idea.

A week or so later Sanji was holding up a short sleeved patterned shirt with green triangles and blue paisley muted in the background. It was one of the ugliest shirts he'd ever seen. Bordering on ridiculous.

"I didn't order this." Sanji said with finality and made to stuff the cotton abomination back in the box before Zeff stopped him.

"I did. It's a gift." He hadn't thought this through enough. Damn Mitzie! But the innocent calls for 'grampa Zeff' kept his voice even.

"A gift?" Sanji wasn't buying it.

"You think the rest of us feel comfortable watching you in hundred plus degrees go off on your day off in a suit? The other cooks like you fine but that behavior is weird."

"Like I give a damn." The kid huffed but he was still holding the shirt.

"Are you trying to appear better than everyone? Cause even if you don't mean too, by wearing formal all the time...you're missing out on some things. " He struggled for an example that Sanji would like. "Like if they want to teach you to fish? A suit is not only weird to wear for fishing but you're risking your good clothes forever stinking like dead fish." A light in the kids eyes said he said the right thing.

"A gift." Sanji repeated softly as he looked at the tag with a surprised grin. "It's Doskoi!"

"No excuse to skimp on quality." He shrugged and then looked pointedly at the boy, no reason not to enforce a lesson. "Right?"

"The best food starts from the best ingredients." Sanji returned in agreement and Zeff nodded with hidden pleasure. Suddenly Sanji started toward the door. "Going to put this on a hanger be right back."

When he returned Sanji was carrying a long box with a subdued blue ribbon. He held it out expectantly.

"What the hell is this for? It's not my birthday."

"It's not my birthday either and you never told me yours." The kid challenged back, full of spunk.

"Cause I don't want to start exchanging gifts with you!"

"You started it, shitty old man! Take it!"

"Damn bratty eggplant." He sighed in surrender as he opened the box. The tallest chefs hat he's ever seen. Truly ridiculous.

"Bigger the hat the better the chef right?" Sanji smirked away any embarrassment.

"That explains why you don't have one, right?" He snorted at the blonds frown but patted his head in a rough way that he hoped the kid to understand as thanks. Shit they were now exchanging gifts, he really didn't expect to feel this close to actually feeling like a father. Maybe he should focus more on the baby eggplant before worrying about his future kids if any.

That didn't stop him from buying the kid a new ugly shirt every year though. Just in case.


	3. White

The tips of the waves that trapped him on this hell of the rock were white. They would flip and toss, cresting happily and giving him a taunting gesture before falling back into the sea.

The seagulls the never came close enough to snatch but he could sometimes see in the distance. Presumably happily squawking away. Helping themselves to the seemingly endless supply of fish that Sanji also couldn't reach. Those bastards were white.

The sun would beat upon him even as he looked. The white fluffy clouds didn't do a damn to give him any protection or relief.

And on that subject, his own white skin never tanned. Cracked, burned, blistered, peeled, and then shriveled painfully only to repeat the process again when his white skin in anyway recovered.

The papers the marines had him sign were white too. Stating as a matter of record his status as the lone survivor of the Orbit and orphan awaiting placement.

Any time he could be moved and taken and placed wherever they wished.

White is said to be the color of purity and innocence and that seems like a crock of shit to him. Or maybe it IS accurate because if that's true, all the more reason it has nothing to do with him.

He was partially responsible for the sinking of the Orbit and the old man's ship, whatever it was called. If he hadn't stuck his neck out maybe the pirates would have looted the Orbit and left and both ships could've paid more attention to the storm. Maybe no one would have died.

Sanji ended up on a rock in the middle of the ocean instead and survived only because of the sacrifices of the shitty old man. What's the value of food, a leg, a ship, a crew, and a dream anyway? Whatever it is he sure as hell can't pay it back no matter how much. He's sure as hell going to try though! Until someone takes him away, that is.

Sanji isn't some innocent and naive kid. He doesn't want the former pirate to give him anything, He doesn't deserve it. Doesn't want to be more of a burden.

He has to be tough and hard. A real man takes responsibility. He has to pay Zeff back even if he dies.

That is what he had been thinking when Zeff suddenly stopped the tour of the newly constructed Baratie and opened the next door with enough hesitation that Sanji took notice.

"There was space in the plan so I told them to make this your room." Came the gruff explanation.

A room of his own!

A step inside showed a small simple room, painted a fresh white. Large windows with filmy white curtains. A real bed too! Fluffy white pillows, clean, crisp sheets. A quarter turn and there was a book case, a borough, and a closet of pressed cook uniforms in his size, chef whites.

He fought back a swell of emotion.

"Why?" He asked and his eyes caught on a piece of white paper Zeff was holding out to him. His eyes widened as they scanned over the official document. Sanji was awarded official and permanent placement to the Baratie under Zeff as an apprentice. He had no idea how the man made it happen or why he would want to but he couldn't help a few sniffs to hold back tears. He didn't know what to say say. He went for a warning, a chance for the old bastard to change his mind.

"You should know that white doesn't suit me at all." He muttered between sniffs.

Zeff appraised him seriously.

"White's just a blank slate. A fresh start. If you want to make here your home I think it suits you damn well, Eggplant."

Sanji looked around the comfortable room again and back to the chef, who he suddenly realized was wearing chef whites already.

If that's all it took to stay here, he supposed he could happily give white another chance.


	4. Ark

"Make something." Zeff had said.

The fishing boat that had docked a few hours ago had dropped a fortune to celebrate their success and their one year anniversary as a crew in style. "The Works", they said.

Apparently it had been a very profitable first year if the dent they were making in the Baratie's liquor stock was any indication.

Zeff had given him a block of ice and told him to carve it and present some appropriate culinary masterpiece on it.

Well that is what he took "make something" to mean, anyway.

The older chef had then slipped to his own corner of the kitchen and started chiseling away at his own party centerpiece in silence. Sanji watched the mans technique carefully from out the corner of his eye. He'd only done this a few times before and never with a block of ice this big.

The movements as Zeff attacked the ice block were sharp and yet graceful. He whittled down the block to the exact shape he desired. A bucket of fresh cleaned and shelled shrimp (care of Sanji's hard work minutes earlier) in hand, he pulled two shrimp out and placed them atop his creation before apparently deciding one of the many sizzling pans needed his attention.

Critical gaze momentarily distracted, Sanji actually slipped a little closer to the old man's work to really examine the detail of the structure.

A feeling of dread dropped painfully into the pit of his stomach suddenly and he forced himself to swallow the fear (and lump in his throat) and NOT back away. It was a relatively simple plateau or stylized volcano shape with chips taken out to make it look like a craggy rock surface, beneath it an ocean of their custom made spicy cocktail sauce the older chef had added at some point. Atop the platform two shrimp back to back, one decidedly smaller than the other, an atypical oversight but then again if the top is piled high with shrimp and Zeff stuffs the shrimp into the craggy grooves no one would notice. The effect would be an almost pinkish white mushroom shooting up from perhaps some red moss. When the food was eaten it would look more like a volcano that had erupted. A pretty brilliant display.

So why was he so freaked out? It was just a pillar of ice, some cocktail sauce, and two lone shrimp cut off and isolated from their...oh. He nearly smacked himself in realization and took a breath, forcing the tension away. Mystery solved.

Sanji was honestly surprised that seeing something so vaguely similar to the outline of THAT rock could cause such a reaction. Why that was ages ago! He thought back a bit and counted. His eyes widened in surprise before flicking to where Zeff was adding paprika to a chicken dish about to be finished in the oven.

It was exactly one year ago to the day that they had gotten off that rock. Surely this couldn't be a coincidence. For just the barest of instants he caught Zeff observing him out of the corner of his eye. It confirmed this was a part of some plan. Was it a test to see how he was doing? Did the old bastard think he could get a handle on his state of mind by watching his reaction?

He was fine! The nightmares had stopped long ago, he had since ventured into the water to swim without fear a few times on the hot days, and he was in perfect health! He was even doing some of those powerful kicks he seemed to be the unwilling victim of so often. The fact that he had froze at the old mans ice sculpture nudged him to admit that he wasn't over the incident mentally or emotionally as much as he had thought but he was definitely on the mend.

The old man didn't ask straight out if he was okay one year after the fact. He had said "Make something." Sanji grinned to himself and spun his carving pick in his hand as he walked back to his block of ice to get to work.

"HOLY SHIT!" The whole party seemed to freeze at the captains call and followed his eyes to where Sanji was wheeling in his piece for the next course.

To say the captain of the fishing boat had been pleased would be an understatement. Zeff's creation had been gobbled up and looked even more barren than in the kitchen but Sanji didn't hesitate in sweeping it off the table and with Carne's help, replacing it with his ice sushi boat. The fishing crews eyes grew wide at the sight of it.

Well, it was more like a very large and elaborate sushi ark so some appreciation was definitely due. It was massive, multileveled with tons of sushi lined up in artistically appealing pairs. An overflowing banquet of freshness from the blue out the window. Seafood these men had probably caught daily but couldn't ever afford to eat in such a way. The fishermen attacked the sculpture with such vigor that Zeff had to pull him out of the chaos by the collar of his chef whites. Why Zeff had been that close he didn't know, but the man set him gently on the ground next to him safely out of the fray with a grunt.

"Looks like you had fun."

Sanji looked up at Zeff and nodded wordlessly. Obviously.

"Interesting how you made a cockpit further in and sealed it with a thin pane of ice." He noted, hinting at not only seeing the most difficult detail but also the two disproportionate shrimp of Sanji's own choosing sitting in that captains quarters steering the ark wherever they wanted.

"That's the best part." Sanji agreed. A smile threatening to break through. "Once the food is gone, they are still together and can go get more. No big deal."

Of course that meant they would be stuck together too and eventually Sanji would become a young man trapped here, Zeff noted, but Sanji didn't see that side of with a short smile he figured the brat never would. Well that was fine for now.

"Sounds like a big deal to me." Was the gruff reply but Sanji heard the smile in it and almost beamed himself. Almost. Zeff was pointed back to the kitchen in a familiar way that always meant unpleasant work. "Aren't there dishes that need washing Eggplant?"

"Yeah I'm going, shitty old man." To his surprise Zeff was following. At the questioning look the old man shrugged.

"You haven't eaten yet, right? I'll make something for us."

"You just want to give me more dishes." Sanji replied skeptically

"Damn right I do. You could stand to build a little more muscle. Don't think I didn't notice Carne doing the heavy lifting out there."

Sanji grimaced and moved to the sink to begin the chore the old man had now dubbed training.

"Fine! You better make something really good though."

He knew it would be, it was just the point of the thing, really.


	5. Iron

There are kicking techniques specifically to weaken, break, resonate, or stop iron. Sanji really didn't really see the point in learning those as carefully. Things made of iron were typically huge and mechanical or insanely fortified. If he needed to break down some castle door or stop some heavy machinery, he could just as easily kick somebody in charge until they opened the door or stopped the machinery for him. The likely hood he would ever be in any situations like that seemed unlikely. He didn't foresee fighting any tanks, giant robots, impractically armored idiots or anything like that. He pretty much thought those techniques were only good for showing off and were otherwise useless.

A man stepped through the doors of the Baratie that afternoon while Sanji was setting the tables up for dinner service and unexpectedly changed all that.

Tall, thin, wearing gentle looking glasses. He spotted Zeff exiting the kitchen, wiping his hands as he went and started walking toward him with purpose. About ten feet away he started running toward the old blond cook, pulling a katana free as he went.

Before Sanji could scream out a warning to the old man, a glinting edge of steel was flying toward the geezer's thick neck with indescribable speed. Zeff was raising his leg in instinct and Sanji held his breath as he expected the one good remaining leg to be severed and sent in a bloody chunk back under the swing doors of the kitchen.

The leg met the blade and kicked it away safely. The swordsman recovered and reversed his momentum suddenly to move the blade back across the cook's chest. Zeff wasn't having that though and flipped backwards, kicking the blade up and to the left.

Sanji was amazed. In his mind he had assumed if he ever had to fight against someone wielding a weapon his only course would be to dodge and then strike a vital point. Zeff was making no such concession as just dodging. He was meeting the blade with full strength.

"How is he able to do that against a sword?" He asked out loud as he began quickly taking mental notes on the moves the old man was pulling off. A sword should slice him.

Just then Zeff did the move he recognized from an earlier lesson involving heating iron with the force of your strike to change it's shape. It was a little different, more advanced but it was the same thing.

But this was steel, not iron! Wait. Steel was made from iron, wasn't it? Those techniques could be altered to effect derivatives of iron? He smiled suddenly as he understood the fight in a different way. Zeff had just heated the sword blade enough to loose it's edge temporarily, a few seconds at most, when it would be okay to more forcefully attack that blade away and press his advantage. Zeff followed through with just that.

Sanji watched every move. Considered it's application. Tried to think of any alteration needed in application when you took into account the small blond had two working legs. The swordsman was good but even as he drew down the katana straight down, Zeff stopped the blade with the bottom of his worn dress shoe and even moved his shoe slightly as if pointing out that even if there had been a second, third or fourth blade, he could still stop them if he was focused.

A jump up, a kicking twist, and the blade clattered to the ground several feet away with the swordsman following soon after.

A victory decided, Sanji looked at Zeff excitedly only to have to mask it when the Chef looked his way.

"Oi, Brat! Set the man a place and bring us some tea. When you're done with that, four dozen croquettes and dumplings boxed to go. I know how to treat a rival when the fights over."

Sanji nodded and ran off to fill the order, still thinking back on what he had just witnessed and what it all meant when he thought of the techniques he had learned but not taken seriously. No shitty swordsman would ever get the best of him! That's what it meant!

When the boy was gone, Zeff walked over to the swordsman and gave him a hand up and walked him over to a table the kid had already set up. A moment later Sanji came with tea.

"When you're done with the food and dinner service set up, get out of my sight. Go practice or something."

"You're not the boss of me! I was going to anyway!"

Sanji left to finish the to-go order.

"That went well I think." The swordsman said softly as he adjusted his glasses and took a sip of tea.

"Yeah, the brat gets it now. About time."

"I heard you have part of the deal being prepared, when will you be available for the other part?"

"I should have some free time on Tuesday. That work for you?"

"Yes. I have one stubborn student in particular that thinks more is always superior. The sooner he sees someone stronger with no visible weapons, the better."

"Should I lose this time? And don't forget your half of the bargain."

"It will be more effective if he sees you as a threat, however it ends isn't really important. Let's play that by ear. And yes, I have a few boxes of that rare tea set aside for you."

"Good." They both sat back and enjoyed their tea, now that their business was finished. Sanji looked through the pass through kitchen window and frowned. There was no way to tell that these guys were having such an intense fight moments before. Now they looked like friends. Weird. He could never imagine such a relationship.

With a shrug he returned his attention to the dumplings.


	6. Mantra

Sanji waited patiently with the box of name plates as his mother carefully climbed up the step stool to reach 'the big board', as they called it, that hung over the reception desk. Once there she sprayed down the sign and wiped off the dust. Passing down the cleaner to her son she regarded him a minute, taking in the black eye again with a frown. She returned her attention back to the sign with a sigh.

"I wish you didn't get into so many fights."

He had known this was coming.

"Sorry."

"No, I know you don't start them, honey. Pass me Sylvie's plate, please?" She passed the boy a wooden plank with the name Dawn embossed on it in neat, curvy pink writing.

"They can be such jerks. I don't understand mom, you never did anything bad to them." He returned as he dug in the box for the requested the name.

"You know, women are powerful and complex creatures, Sanji. We have our own type of mystique. For a small and reasonable fee, we put aside our problems, our worries, and our insecurities and focus entirely on what we can do for our clients and their pleasure. We can inspire, we can heal, and we can comfort a weary soul. It's a noble profession with a bad reputation. Maybe they're scared of us; people fear what they don't understand. Or maybe the fact our business is doing so well in such a tough time and theirs isn't is making them angry or embarrassed. Maybe they suspect their lovers are cheating on them. I don't know but I really wish you didn't suffer for it." She gave him a sweet smile. "We're good people, you know that, right?"

Sanji has heard this speech before and ones like it, both from his mom and some of her pretty friends that work for her. He really understands that they are just providing a service that the townspeople didn't want to admit they took part in. He understands that they worry he'll feel ashamed of them and listen to the mean words he hears when he walks to school. He lets them give him the talk over and over mostly because it makes them feel better, especially at the end when he nods and smiles. They hug him or ruffle his hair and then go back to work.

In truth he is very proud of his mom. She is the only woman in town with her own business, and he is the only boy without a father that is still well fed and has clothes without too many holes. Times are tough in their little neck of North Blue. In fact he is being better cared for than most other children, two parents or not. Not only with the food and clothing but it was like he was living with a den full of mothers that were willing to give him attention when they weren't with clients. They helped him with his homework and made him little tasty treats with the extra food the VIPs had been too distracted to eat.

All the women working for her love his mom too. She had saved a bunch of them from bad situations and liked that she backed up their choices and bids for independence. Everyone called his mom Madam, which even he knows is a term filled with respect.

"Of course, you're the best mom! They're stupid for not seeing it." He passed up Sylvie's plate and while she placed it onto the board he fixed his hair to fall over his eye to hide the violence he had been sent home from school for. He looks up to her in hopes this will make sure she won't worry and finds himself admiring his mom's beauty. All of the girls under his mom's watchful eye were pretty but to him she left them all in the dust.

She has blond hair like his and she keeps it long and swept up out of her face with some unnecessarily sharp hair pins he wasn't allowed to touch, and bright blue eyes that shone with savvy on a deceptively delicate face. She wasn't afraid to be strong and take a stand for her extended family and her features showed that. No expressive swirly eyebrow like his though, he must have gotten that from his dad.

She typically wore knee length leather skirts or Capri pants that hugged her hips and strong legs suggestively (today it was a skirt) and a corset top with flowly and filmy sleeves and collar that made the cleavage on display seem almost modest and sweet. The sort of thing an impassioned man would love to rip off. She didn't take clients anymore except when they were willing to pay an absurd amount of money but she said it was part of her job to at least seem available.

His mother smiled back down at him and smirked at his new self-made lop-sided hairstyle.

"I know it's still there but it does look adorable that way, little man." She handed him Marianna's plate. Sanji looked at it strangely. She was just telling him this morning when she was making breakfast how she needed to make some more money soon.

"Huh? Why isn't Marianna working tonight?"

"Don't tell anyone but I think she's pregnant and only wants to do only regulars she can trust not to be rough with her for the time being."

The time being until his mother could hire someone trustworthy enough to provide excellent and respectful security for the brothel. She had the money but the only strong people in town were scumbags or his mom's favorite band of pirates that would swing by only once in a while and couldn't be convinced to stay. The fact that men could be rough barbarians to the point they needed security, still upset Sanji beyond words.

"If she has a kid will they live here?"

"Maybe, would you like that?"

"Hmm, maybe. Will I be here for the baby?"

"Yeah!" She laughed. "Even if she's several months along already, your internship on the Orbit only lasts the summer. You'll be back with time to spare! In fact we might even have a new place. I hear the fighting is getting closer to us every day and I think you deserve the chance to get in a few less fights. North Blue just isn't that great a place anymore I'm afraid."

"Is that why you're sending me away?" Sanji pouted.

"Now don't be like this! You told me you wanted to learn how to make tasty food like Marianna right? This is just a little adventure for you to do just that! Maybe you'll discover you'll want to continue and be a cook and I'll be left alllll alone!" She threw a hand to her forehead in a fake wail of misery.

"You know that won't happen! I'll miss you too much!"

"I'll miss you too honey! You'll have to learn lots of good stuff and make me something special when you get back! A nice drink maybe!"

A chime rang, early notice that a visitor was on their way to the front door. There was a brief flurry of movement as the girls not engaged with clients scurried out to the main foyer to drape themselves over the couches and each other in sexy poses after checking their hair and outfits self consciously.

Sanji noticed his mother had a smart smile on her lips and beli signs glinting in her eyes.

"Sanji, counter, now."

A moment later, Sanji was hiding behind the front desk counter with practiced ease as his mother started to descend the stool steps just as the door opened and the mayor himself entered. The beli vanished from her eyes as she greeted the one man who didn't have to pay and knew it. The price of doing business. A loathsome man.

"Good evening sir." She managed to fake a welcoming smile.

"No need to get off without me. I think I like this view." He came closer as he chuckled at his own bad joke. His hand moved toward to her creamy white thigh still hitched too high on a step to move.

"I was going to ask if this visit was for business or pleasure. Pleasure it is I see." She huffed as she hopped to the side off the step stool and deftly avoiding his hand.

"No, my dear, with you it is always a combination of both." He leered. "Figured you'd want to have an enjoyable last romp as Madam before you're demoted to common whore."

She fiddled with her hair a moment casually, but Sanji noticed that one of the overly sharp hairpins had disappeared from her hair and seemed to be hidden in her palm. Sanji could feel the rising tension and held his breath as he watched.

"I have no interest in retiring my position, I'm sorry to say."

The chime rang again and before it finished sounded it started again, and again, and again and continued even as a large military unit burst through the brothels front door. The girls were running and screaming even before the guns started to lock on them.

The mayor leaned closer and leered.

"You're mistaken if you think you have a choice. This is how it's going to go, we hand over your "business" to the World Government Army tomorrow and they'll use you and your girls and this place however they see fit. In return they make sure the revolutionaries and the fighting doesn't get this far." He grabbed her and pulled her into him suddenly and ran the back of his hand across her cheek. "And of course I get a finders fee."

"I'll give you your finders fee asshole!" She hissed as she elbowed him hard in the ribs and stabbed her hairpin into his thigh and brought it back up under his chin. Sanji didn't see it connect from his hiding place behind the counter (that he was about to run out from and help somehow) since at that moment Marianna stepped in his way and pushed him back, cocked a pistol and started firing at the soldiers. It got really loud as the soldiers returned fire and Sanji had to clamp his hands over his ears and pray his mom was okay.

Just as quickly the firing stopped but Marianna was tense. Sanji peaked out and saw the problem. A solider had a knife at his mom's throat. A cut above her eye showed this guy meant business.

The man was yelling for Marianna to stand and drop her weapon. Sanji was already planning to take it when she did. As she started to rise, the man got hit with a blow to the back of the head with loud crack and fell to the floor.

Sanji's mom ran straight to Sanji and started to check him over for injuries. Finding none except the hidden black eye she hugged him and sobbed. Sanji couldn't help sobbing along with her. He hated to see his mom hurt and sad.

"Mom you're bleeding."

With a laugh she pulled her other hair pin out and let her hair fall more loosely forward and arranged it quickly over the injured eye, just like Sanji had.

"No, I'm not." She joked and Sanji couldn't help but giggle at her coping his one-eyed hairstyle.

Marianna leaned against the counter with a relieved sigh and Sanji realized she must have taken out all of the other soldiers. Wow. He had no idea she was so handy with a gun. Now though she looked tired and stressed and like a bullet had grazed her arm. Not healthy for her or the baby.

"Glad I stopped to say good bye. Looks like you really could use some better security." A tall man with long brown hair kept tidy in a pony tail was smoking a cigarette and nudging what was left of the mayor with the butt of his flintlock rifle.

Sanji's mom gave her a son a squeeze before she leapt up and practically spun over to her favorite pirate, stepping on a random solider as she went. You could practically see hearts in the air as she smiled at him, instantly by his side. Marianna and Sanji shared an eye roll. At least the madam could control the impulse most times but there was something about her favorite pirate that brought it out in spades.

"Benny! You're leaving?"

"So the captain tells me. East Blue is calling, apparently." He replied with a shrug and a smile.

"Thanks for showing up, but we had the situation under control." Marianna nodded.

They hadn't really, Sanji thought to himself. Yeah there was only one guy left but he had the upper hand and they both were hurt. They could have been hurt far worse. The baby could have died. They all could have. Or they could have been scarred up from the injuries in an industry where beauty was so important.

"Of course, you're strong, smart, resourceful. You certainly could handle it on your own but you shouldn't have too. It could be entirely selfish that I'd rather not see you covered in blood when it could be me instead. I am a pirate after all."

That was it.

"Benn! You're so noble!" She noodled.

He had put into words the very feeling that had surged through the small blond as he was about to rush out and help his mom.

Marianna elbowed her boss hard and the wiggling half dance of excitement ceased suddenly, indicating she was ready to be serious. Marianna caught that new attention with her voice.

"More importantly what are we going to do about the unwelcome visitors all set to take us over tomorrow?"

Sanji was sitting with his back to the counter, he should be paying attention but he found himself nodding at Benn's words as he mulled them over. Women were special and when they were sad he was sad. It was impressive to watch them take care of themselves so violently but it twisted uncomfortably in his gut. Worry. He would much rather be the one getting hurt. Women could protect themselves but they shouldn't have too.

The world should be better than that.

A real man would protect them so they can live and thrive however they want. So they could be happy. When the women in his life were happy, he was too. The world was a better place.

It became a mantra then, repeated again and again. If he could protect a girl by putting his life on the line, he would. They were worth it. They deserved it. They were everything to him.

The Madam sighed and wiped the blood away from her eye while Sanji wasn't looking.

"I knew we would be pulled into this with the fighting getting closer. I was thinking it was time to move the cathouse anyway. Sanji is set to go away for the summer tomorrow so he'll be safe on the Orbit. We'll just drop him off early tonight. Then the girls and I should pack up and start our search for a new place. I don't suppose I could request a lift from your captain? We'll find some nice island along the way."

Benn smirked as he thought about his nakama's reaction upon bringing a whole brothel aboard. They loved this place though and got along great with the girls here.

"I can't say yes, but I can say that the captain will probably be open to it when you ask him."

She nodded and walked over to the counter and swept up Sanji in her arms again.

"Sanji? I need you to go get your bag, okay honey? We're going to drop you off tonight. While you're gone, I'll fine a nice new town for us to live in and send a messenger gull to the Orbits captain with arrangements to get you after the voyage okay? I'll expect a really fancy treat when I see you again, so learn a lot, okay?"

"I want to protect you." He was looking up at her with a worried frown that made her hug him tighter.

"No Sanji! Maybe when you're older. It's my job to protect you." She kissed his the top of his head and pushed him toward the back room. "Now go get your bag."

He huffed as he went to go fetch his things. He was going to definitely protect them someday.

Five months later, a half starved little wanna be cook was wrapped up in a warm blanket, a shitty old man across from him still getting daily medical treatment for their prolonged exposure, starvation, and his own amputation.

"So you got a mom or dad we should contact?"

"I said I would help you with your restaurant. Go back to sleep, old man."

"That isn't an answer, brat."

Sanji sighed as he looked out the porthole of their rescue vessel. He had realized he might never see his mother again while he'd been on the rock. It had made the torture that much worse. She probably thought he was dead and there was nothing he could do to let her know otherwise unless he got famous somehow and if that ever happened it wouldn't be for a long time.

"The bird either never came or the captain never got around to giving me the message. She was with pirates last time I saw her but I have no idea even which crew they were with. She could be anywhere in the world right now."

"Like All Blue."

"Yeah." He had opened his mouth to say 'but I know she exists' but stopped himself. The old man was a believer too after all. "Like that."

"Then you'll need to get stronger to find them. The world is a very dangerous place."

"And I want to protect them." He knew he couldn't yet and it hurt but that was the way it was. She would still have to protect him, being a damn kid. Besides, he wanted to protect this bastard of a hero and his dream too. He'd start with that, and then see.

"I guess you're an orphan stuck with me till you can. We'll start with food and see about what you can do as far as protection."

That sounded good to him. He still wanted a better world and repeated the mantra in his mind. He would put his life on the line to protect them.

With the old man and the restaurant that list grew a little longer.

He couldn't wait to grow up, he had so much he wanted to protect and even more he needed to find.


	7. Angel

Zeff opened his curtains and took a look out onto the Baratie's deck in the early morning light. The snow hadn't let up any during the night he noticed, and if the gray overcast sky was any indication this was probably just a break before the snow continued throughout the day. There had to be almost two feet of snow out there already.

He should wake up Patty and Carne and get their butts shoveling to stay ahead of the storm. As he went to turn from the window movement caught his eye and he hesitated to watch a moment longer through the small space between the curtains.

It looked like a giant grub or caterpillar was slogging its' way onto the deck. Before the old cooks thoughts got too silly at seeing such a thing a strong gust of wind whipped the ship and revealed the creatures mushy off-white head was in fact the hood of his old puffy winter coat they kept by the freezer for prolonged stocking of beef and fish in the below zero temps. Under the hood the patch of sunny yellow identified it further as the baby eggplant, Sanji.

On the boy his coat was huge, well past his knees, a cumbersome, puffy marshmallow of a dress. He would have snickered privately at the sight but his attention was all at once captured by the expression on Sanji's face.

Pure, utter, and completely innocent, unabashed delight. Snowflakes danced up from the drifts and brushed his cheeks and eyelashes and the boy responded by throwing his hands up in the air and laughing with pure joy.

Zeff was stunned. He pressed against the cold glass and stared. He couldn't remember ever seeing the boy so happy. He must really love the snow. That thought sparked a memory. Didn't the boy mention once when they were cutting up a fish from North Blue that he had it before because he was from there? Maybe the snow reminded Sanji of his home before the Baratie.

Sanji jumped with both feet in wide arcing jumps across the deck, laughing as he went. Did the kid imagine he was making monster or dinosaur tracks? Or maybe he was pretending to be the monster?

It occurred to the cook that the boy was playing, something he had never seen before. Sometimes he could forget how young his baby eggplant really was by the nature of their semi-professional bickering relationship. The kid tended to be so serious and God knows the kid was in such a damn hurry to grow up. It served to make the scene before him even more miraculous.

The small blond headed to the dangerously slick railing and Zeff felt a pang of concern. He had to talk himself out of opening the window and shouting at the boy to be careful. Not that he would phrase it in such a way, but still. If he did that this kid playing in the snow so happily would disappear and a defensive, sarcastic Sanji, he knew too well would hurry to replace him again. He'd like to see this a little longer and the boy looked like he was being careful.

Sanji squat down next to the railing to examine the icicles hanging there in various sizes. He flicked a few overboard, stood and kicked a few of the larger ones to follow those over the edge, squatted back down and snapped a longer, thicker one in his hand. He lifted the crystallized rod of ice in his hands to his eyes and then took a stance of a dashing swordsman so suddenly Zeff couldn't help the hearty chuckle that escaped his lips.

He knew that this wasn't any conscious desire to swing a sword but instead probably a fantasy where he was imitating those heroic fairy tale princes in those books he kept (hid really) under his bed and not on the bookshelf in his room.

The boy took a few swings and pretended to dodge and block some imaginary foe before thrusting the killing blow and looking back to the rail with determination. He looked up and raised his sword high as he shouted for the dragon's surrender and princesses' freedom. Zeff chuckled at how caught up in this Sanji had become and just how ridiculous the effect was in the puffy coatdress. Did he even realize if he shouted anyone could hear him if they were awake? Silly eggplant.

Sanji leapt forward and brought down his icicle sword in a high arc that sent the invisible dragon to an icy death. It also shattered the icicle into many tiny pieces. The blond seemed to remember himself then and quickly looked around to see if anyone had heard the ruckus. As the one blue suspicious eye started to float up to Zeff's bedroom window, the old cook pressed himself against the wall, out of sight for few moments.

When he dared look again Sanji was shoving together the snow on top of the railing into some kind of rudimentary snowman. For a moment he questioned if the boy knew to build a proper snowman but as he spotted the boy still looking around suspiciously he figured he wanted something that could be easily blamed on some other cook that was perhaps just messing around before prepping breakfast. Sanji snapped off two more icicles and used them as arms for his snow pile snowman. Then he gave his creation a happy face so bright, it looked a lot like the boy who created it.

Again Zeff reminded himself at what an unusual sight this was. He didn't remember the boy being this way last winter in the snow. He brought a hand to his mustache and tried to recollect what last year had been like. Ah. It had been unusually mild last winter, very little snow, and what had fallen either hadn't stuck or melted before even an inch had accumulated. Zeff had been happy by that development since he was still finding places in his new restaurant ship that needed weather proofing and better insulation before it could weather something like a blizzard. It also meant that he had never gotten around to ordering the kid a winter coat of his own (something he made a note to remedy).

Now that he thought about it, on those days it had snowed but hadn't amounted to anything he recalled the baby eggplant being a little more morose than usual. Disappointment. Especially on Christmas. The boy had looked out the window quite a few times on that day. Maybe it was snow he was hoping to see and not Santa. That made sense. With all the fighting in North Blue these days, belief in anything let alone something as fanciful as Santa was rare.

Sanji was now making a perfect snowball. He looked around hopefully for a good target, eyeing Zeff's window mischievously (Zeff ducked out of the way, just in time to avoid being spotted) but thought better of it. He looked around some more. Seeing nothing good to hit he sighed and flung it into the ocean, trying to get the furthest distance he could. He made a few more and tried to break his record but distance was hard to measure when all the waves looked the same.

The smile was fading, Zeff noticed. Well a snowball fight was something that required a few people. He wondered if the kid had lots of friends where he came from or if his cocky 'I can do it myself' attitude had always been in place as a loner. It was becoming obvious that he had at least one person to play with back home though. Again, snowballs were not a satisfying solitary activity.

Another few snowballs were thrown into the water. He tried throwing one straight up in the air and then tried dodging it as it came down. It amused him enough to do only once more. He did it a third time but caught it in his hand. It exploded into freezing white powder and flew into his face. Sanji looked upset and kicked the snow a bit before moving to a more pristine area of the deck and falling backward onto the snow.

For a second Zeff wondered if the kid was planning on taking a nap or just watching the sky but after a moment, Sanji moved his arms and legs back and forth to make a small snow angel. Once done he grinned happily for an instant before some realization hit and he stared blankly at the sky before frowning and looking to his left. He looked upset. Why, the older chef couldn't guess.

Suddenly with a look of pissed off determination Sanji stood and carefully leapt as far as he could to the left. He started marking out an outline in the snow with his feet and laid back on the ground and rolled around, flattening the interior. It was a little sloppy but Zeff felt his stomach clench as he realized what this shape was and what he was doing.

Another snow Angel.

A larger one, as if made by an adult and judging by the width the kid chose, a woman. The wingspan to the right almost touching the one that matched Sanji's diminutive size. The boy stood and nodded at his work before jumping back into his own snow angel outline. He laid back down, letting his outstretched left hand come into contact with the more adult looking snow angel's own wingspan right where a hand would be able to take his.

Sanji looked to the left with a sad smile. Opened his mouth to catch snowflakes on his tongue but it still wasn't snowing. He closed his mouth slowly as he realized this and stared blankly up into they gray sky. Then he looked back to his left as his empty hand opened and closed, yearning so hard. His eyes clenched shut, trying so intensely to will tears not to spill out.

A ball of perfectly packed snow suddenly smacked him in the face. He sat up in shock as he wiped the freezing wet out of his eyes and off his cheeks. He glared in confusion up at the old man, standing at his window, tossing a snowball and catching it with a smirk on his lips.

"I'd get some cover if I were you baby eggplant. That was just a warning shot."

"Warning shot? What the he...AH!" The old geezers snowball nailed the small blond right in the neck and Sanji scrambled away in a panic. He scooped up snow as he went and barely formed it before flinging it back up to Zeff. It fell short and the old cook snorted.

"You'll have to do better than that, squirt."

"Shut up!"

Sanji scanned the deck for cover but seeing none started to run to some fresh snow to at least pack some better ammunition. The doors burst open and Patty and Carne burst on deck with two large crates. They plopped them down in front of a stunned Sanji and started making snowballs at record speed. Patty started to toss them at Zeff with incredible power but pretty shitty aim. Zeff smirked as he correctly guessed he hadn't been the only one watching the boy's early morning time in the snow.

"That's for making me peel all those onions yesterday!" The beefy man shouted flinging two snowballs at a time. Carne joined in a moment later with a more carefully thrown one that still missed but came close.

"This is for making me re-do that five hour roast last week! It was fine how it was!"

"This is for firing the cute waitress who kept dropping plates! She may have been clumsy but she brightened up the place!"

"This is for making me share a room with Patty! His dirty clothes reek!"

"This is for, HEY! What's that supposed to mean?"

Sanji couldn't help but laugh as the Patty flung his Zeff intended snowball at an unsuspecting Carne. Carne growled and was throwing one of his right back.

"What do you think it means? Our room smells like ass!"

"That's your breath!"

"Is not!"

Sanji was glad to be short enough that the crossfire was several feet above his head. He looked back up to see the old man smirking at the turn of events and Sanji formed a tight snowball and nailed the chef right in the chin. Snow caked around his mouth and in his mustache.

Silence fell over the deck as Patty and Carne stared at their boss trying to remove the snow.

"Ah. Oops." Sanji sort of apologized even as a sudden fit of giggles started to spring out of him. Soon he couldn't control their onslaught and was clutching his stomach with one hand as he was pointing at Zeff with the other, laughing so hard there were tears in his eyes.

Patty and Carne joined in the laughter but quickly got nailed snowballs from the recovered chef. One whizzed by Sanji but missed and the boy opened his eyes trying to get a grip on himself when another came fast and beaned him on the side of the head.

"Don't get cocky, kid! I've hit you twice for every time you hit me!"

"Not for long!" Sanji ducked behind the crate and started scooping up snow for a counter attack, a sly smile on his lips.

Zeff, Patty, and Carne exchanged a look of understanding.

The kid was still a kid, even if he didn't act it.

And he might be the only kid but that didn't mean he was alone.

He was their family now.


	8. Cloud

It hadn't rained in more than a week. In fact the weather was absolutely gorgeous, bright, warm, sunny weather everyday!

It was like a death sentence.

Sanji still had some of the food Zeff had given him but he still felt the near constant gnawing of his stomach as it shrunk, begging for more than the boy dare give it. Water though was quickly becoming a dire problem.

He knew a human couldn't last long without water and that point was being etched into his very soul. His lips and skin were dry and cracked and he had energy to speak of. It was all he could do to just watch for the ships on the horizon when all he seemed to want to do was sleep under the crushing dizziness and fatigue the dehydration was causing.

Line of blue between sky and undrinkable ocean. Cloud. Cloud. Cloud. Rain would be more then welcome.

"Come on, rain!" He would silently chant at the clouds with the audacity to float by his shriveled dying body without a second thought.

Another day, surely his last, the sunrise giving birth to particularly hot day seemed to say.

"Please, I don't want to die. Rain." He begged in his mind. "_**Please!**_"

And then it did.

All at once the sun went from the messenger of death to being winked out in thick black clouds that mimicked night. Thunder rumbled.

Plit. A drop of rain next to him.

Plit. Another hits the tip of his finger.

Plit. Yet another one, this time on his forehead.

Plit. Plit. Plit. Shhhhhhh.

A deafening roar seemed to reverberate around him as the sky opened up and cool water, so sweet, rained down from the heavens. It wet his dry skin and lips. It was welcomed by his tongue and throat as the cracks and crevices in the rock filled and he drank as if trying to stop the losing battle of them overflowing.

The rain bathed him, rinsing the scent of hopeless and inevitable death off him.

He was going to live!

The old man probably was too.

A small part of him felt proud. Responsible. Like his little plea had been heard and he had somehow paid back the bastard for pulling him out of the water to begin with.

But it didn't stop.

"Enough." He told the cloud. "We can survive on this a long time."

The clouds just rumbled and seemed to rain harder.

Sanji shivered as his wet skin refused to warm him.

"Please? The bread is getting mildewed, it'll be inedible soon."

The clouds would not relent for another four days and while a part of him was thankful that at least he had water. That he and the old man would survive. Even if it was inconvenient now and cold, it was only rain. Harmless.

Until the third day when a ship sailed so close to them Sanji could make out the markings on the sails.

The ship couldn't hear him yell or scream over the rain. Could not see him through the thick watery curtain and inky overcast of the clouds.

He was pretty positive he cried but the rain washed any tears away instantly, denying him any proof of his anguish.

When the rain stopped the next day he laid on the rock and looked out. Numb.

Blue line between empty sea and sky. Cloud. Cloud. Cloud.

He wondered if he could ever want something for himself again.

A fluffy white cloud floated by silently, refusing to answer.


	9. Dial

"When the boss is away the sous chef is in the charge." Carne whispered a few degrees too loudly to one of the newbie cooks, as if that explained the total mayhem and chaos erupting around them in the Baratie at that moment, a mere few hours after head chef Zeff had left.

"Shut the hell up Carne! I'm trying to god damn think!" Sanji snapped as he ran his small fingers through his hair. He already had ten problems to deal with and being reminded of the pressure he was under was not helping.

"How the hell are we double booked? Since when did the shitty geezer even take reservations, anyway!"

No one had the answer to either question and the small chef was reminded again, not for the first time, that the only man who could answer it had left him in charge with a mocking laugh and a Den Den Mushi number to dial when he needed to be rescued from his responsibility.

Sanji had promised himself there was no way in hell he'd dial that number and ask the old man for help. He hadn't expected so many catastrophes though and they showed no signs of stopping. His anxiety was growing and as it did the number in his pocket seemed to burn, begging him to call for reinforcements to just make the hell over.

"It's like the shit geezer planned to make this harder for me or something!" He mumbled to himself as he redrew the Baratie layout in order to accommodate the two large double booked groups. He handed it to the serving staff and as they looked at it with zero understanding of his simple directions, smoke began to billow out of one of the ovens.

"Not our fault brat, this was your idea wasn't it?"

Sanji's eyes flashed as he turned on the older but less senior cook, named Agar, in his kitchen.

"What was that?" He was a kid but his voice was cold and steel. There are some things that are absolutely forbidden in the world of chefs, disrespecting the senior chef in charge was practically the number one offense.

There was silence from all the cooks at the breach and they waited for Agar's response. Agar averted his eyes but didn't change his tone.

"I said, 'Not our fault ,_** temporary **_head chef'."

The two stared at each other. Sanji was glad his doubt wasn't visible on his face but he knew most of the cooks didn't like him. Like how he was so much younger and yet out ranked all of them. If he took a stand at reprimanding this cook for his insubordination tonight would he just put himself in a worse position tomorrow or earn their respect?

"THE JELL-O IS ON FIRE!" Came the panicked cry from one of the bus boys as they ran into the kitchen brandishing a fire extinguisher and following the black smoke. This broke the moment as Sanji chased after the server with agitated speed.

"It's flan! Not Jell-o! Somebody pull the damn thing out and throw it in the sink- he shoots that thing and all the food in here risks contamination!"

Before he could get an acknowledgement he was suddenly surrounded by three figures towering over him, the pretty hostess, the head server, and chef Agar.

"CHEF! The VIPs at table seven are complaining about being to close to the kitchen now that it smells like burnt eggs and smoke."

"The new waiters just quit (again) and tables 9, 26, and 40 have orders up."

"We don't have a table 40!" Sanji cut in as the head server flipped through orders.

"That's what they wrote, ah…and it was an order from one the waiters that just quit."

"Hey, temporary head chef, maybe this is a good time to negotiate our pay? Or else we could quit tonight and leave you with a room full of angry customers and a lot of apologizing to do when that bastard Zeff gets back."

Suddenly the galley door flew open as one of the recent ex-waiters was sent flying into the kitchen hard enough to imbed a quarter inch into the wall.

Sanji was glad for the distraction because he was pretty sure he had been a second away from launching himself at Agar and kicking the crap out of him. He didn't want to admit it but bad mouthing the shitty old man was entirely his job and it pissed him off to hear anyone else begin to try. Plus the disrespect Agar was still showing grated the small cook worse than a course cheese.

The cooks huddled around the now swinging kitchen door, some already looked scared as a loud voice boomed out from the dining room.

"Where is the manager?"

Sanji walked out bravely. Patty started after him but Carne pulled him back.

"Wait. They asked for the manager, Sanji knows that's part of the head chef position." There was reluctance in his voice though as he watched the small boy approach a table of pirate, the leader of which had to have some giant in him as he barely fit into his chair and was licking at a speck of blood on his black gloves. Sanji glared at the man.

"What do you assholes want? I'm temporary manager, Chef Sanji."

The man looked at the small cook before bursting out laughing. His crew followed suit.

"Heh heh, why not? Okay shrimp. We're friends with your boss and he said to treat us like royalty…Get your best food out here and keep it coming. On the house of course."

Sanji grit his teeth and began to step forward before hesitating.

What if they _are_ friends of Zeff?

Are you really going to challenge a pirate…by yourself…again?

Sanji spun on his heels and stomped back to the kitchen, he didn't stop to talk to the chefs or give any orders. In fact he kept walking to the back office and slammed the door. He sat at the large desk and picked up the den den mushi receiver with one hand as the other fumbled in his pocket for the number to dial.

He had told Zeff he could handle it. Had told him to leave the damn ship and take a day off (and give everyone a break from him as well). Zeff had said he couldn't handle it but left him in charge anyway with the one promise to call when he was proved right.

The number held between two shaking fingers he punched in the first number. He could practically hear the Shitty old man now.

"Couldn't handle it brat…thought so. What happened?" He would snort and after hearing it all he'd just make give a long list of obvious instructions and make Sanji deal with it.

The small cooks finger froze over the second number. He put the hand set back on it's shell receiver. He walked back out to the pirates with a determined frown. He wasn't alone this time. He was armed with something better than a kitchen knife.

"Where's our food, squirt?"

The pirate suddenly crashed into a far wall before tumbling down in a heap. Sanji lowered his leg slowly. The other pirates at the table began to stand and Sanji glared them down.

"If you are making trouble here and demanding free food you're no friend of the old man. You can disrespect me, but now you owe this place a debt. We're busy because of the shitty geezers poor as shit planning skills, and you injured one of the wait staff and damaged two of our walls. You can either help the rest of the night and I'll feed you or you can leave after getting your asses kicked by a squirt like me. I'm the head chef tonight! I won't let this place fall to the likes of you. Are we clear?"

Many eyes flicked to their captain who was groaning and bloody and then to the small chef who caused it before nodding.

"Good. Patty! Get these assholes in aprons and tell them what to do. What is everyone looking at? We have hungry people to feed! Get back to work!" Sanji finished with a shout.

He paused as soon as he entered the galley and let a self satisfied smile creep on his face. "Agar, you're fired. If you work till the end of your shift without another shitty word, I'll make sure you get your pay for this week. If not, there's the door."

"I'll stay but the old man is going to beat you when he finds out what you've done."

Sanji's grin grew bigger.

"I don't think so but you won't be here to find out." Two problems down, Sanji moved on to address the next armed with a grin and new confidence.

Zeff was sitting alone at the bar, nursing a half glass of bourbon. The den den mushi on the table slept peacefully. The older chef checked the clock on the wall before returning his sideways stare at the phone bug. It was late. Baratie would be closed soon.

Suddenly the bug sprung to life.

Burlup-burlup-burlup!

Zeff hid a grin before answering.

"What? Couldn't handle it brat?"

"You old piece of shit! You didn't tell me he trained under you! I spent half my night in the wall!"

Zeff frowned a bit.

"Oh it's you. Well I told you to give the boy a hard time, sounds like you went farther than that."

A guilty silence. Zeff's frown deepened.

"Did you hurt him?" It sounded neutral enough but underneath the tone was the promise of a rather painful death.

"No! The brat put me into a wall and forced the crew to wait tables! They haven't looked at me the same all night!"

Zeff relaxed and chuckled a bit as he pictured it. He hung up the receiver while the pirate still whined about his injuries.

"Sounds like the boy did good."

Carne came out of the shadow of the door and nodded.

"He fired Agar but otherwise did everything probably the way you would have. Now if you want to keep the illusion you actually left the ship, you should probably fake coming back soon…his secret smoking spot is within sight of where you moved your ship to."

"Yeah." Zeff acknowledged as he stood. He was strangely proud and yet disappointed that the kid hadn't called. Hadn't needed him. "I was going to fire Agar tomorrow anyway. I hated that bastard."

Carne chuckled as he hurried upstairs. Sanji would need his help to organize the new recruits for clean up and he was a little too much like Zeff when it came to punishment for those not pulling their weight.


	10. Gold

Her name was technically Adella but no one ever referred to her by that name. Those with whom she was friendly referred to her as 'Goldie' and to the Tenryuubito who technically owned her she was known as "My Golden Retriever".

She didn't like that so much. Reminded her too much of a dog, but that she supposed, was fitting since that was anyone's station under the world nobles.

The devil's fruit she had been forced to eat as a child gave her the exceptional ability to turn anything she touched into gold at will. She had been sold into the auction house soon after and had been won that night for a record breaking amount of Beli, she was indeed worth a fortune, after all. She was one of the lucky ones. Obedient, valuable, useful, she was given the freedom to run the world looking to procure her masters every desire with a list long enough to fill a cargo hold.

Goldie would leave for months, turn trash into gold and buy the things her master wished for when she could. If she could not convince them to part with the item on her list she would threaten and if that didn't work, turn them to gold and simply take it, leaving her victims to suffocate for their stupidity. It was the world noble's right to have what they wanted, to deny them was death. Why couldn't everyone see that?

She had been trying to procure an ancient artifact; a bible from the lost civilization, and the young, stubborn, paw handed man who had it had refused her twice. When she had tried to steal it from his arms she found herself flying through the air and eventually falling into the sea.

She was going to die. Drowning.

Suddenly a small arm grabbed her waist and started kicking them to the surface. Another hand pulled her up by her heavy gold jacket and the next thing she recalled she was waking up a soft bed to the sound of two male voices.

"She's my girlfriend. I called dibs."

"Oi brat, you just can't call dibs on a woman."

"That's not what Patty says. Besides! I saved her, you didn't even see her, old man! She fell from the sky, I saw her, ergo she's for me!"

"Ridiculo..oi, she's awake."

She opened her eyes and took in the two chefs. Tall gruff, one leg. Small, blond, swirly brow. Wait.

She sat up suddenly and then shrieked as her covers fell away to reveal her naked chest. Zeff turned away and put a hand over Sanji's wide eye. Goldie quickly scooped up her covers and held them to her chin.

"We had a waitress take your clothes to dry them, geez! Calm down.."

She was calm though. Now. She didn't give a damn about the nudity like they were assuming (in some households, clothing for slaves were forbidden, even her own body didn't belong to her so anyone seeing it didn't matter.)

She had a ship with a long long long list of her masters wishes but there was a sheet of paper with his top five that she would be rewarded handsomely for.

Item number one was the 32nd wife that escaped. Long blond hair, blue eyes, former daughter of a wealthy aristocrat and merchant.

Item number two, the son her master had with wife thirty-two. The description only read baby, blond, blue eyes, swirly eyebrows. Gender unknown.

Her master was so busy that the fact he had forgotten something so trivial as his wife's name was completely understandable. When you call for wife thirty-two, wife thirty-two comes. The kid he had only learned about when she escaped with him.

She was pretty sure the paw bastard had sent her right to the biggest retrieval of her life.

"Oh, sorry. The waitress, would she be your mother by any chance?"

Sanji looked at Zeff for a moment. No one ever really had asked him about his mother before. He shook his head at the woman.

"No. I lost my mom a while ago. The waitress is just a waitress, but she's nice."

Damn. Mother dead.

"Thank you for saving me. Listen, I know this may sound incredible but I was actually looking for you."

"Huh?"

"Your dad. He sent me out to find you and your mom and bring you back."

"My DAD?"

Zeff looked at Sanji quizzically. He had always assumed the boy's father had left the family or else died. The boy had never mentioned a word about a father besides the not having one.

Sanji had a far away look in his eyes. His father. The one he had always asked his mom about. He could go and be with real family. They could try to find his mom together.

"What's he like?" The small cook decided to ask.

"He's very rich and very powerful. You would be well looked after and have a great destiny to fulfill. A world where everything is yours for the taking."

Of course her master might just want the boy as a slave or someone to punish for wife thirty two running away but that was hardly her concern. Whatever happened to the boy when he was with his father, she still got her reward and freedom to chase another desire. Inside she was already celebrating.

"No." Sanji decided. His mom had probably left for a reason and since none of the descriptors this woman used was kind or loving, he had a feeling he knew why.

"NO?"

"No. The shitty old man needs me." Sanji responded. Zeff huffed a quiet denial of this but was promptly ignored.

"Oh, well I forgot to mention. I will leave this gentleman enough gold to hire an armada to help him. He could retire in luxury if he wanted. There is no reason to stay when your dad is waiting for you."

Sanji fidgeted a moment.

"No, I have a reason. If my dad needs to hear it, you can tell him where to find me. This is my home now. I'm helping the shitty old man with his dream."

This little brat. It would be so much easier if he came along quietly.

The woman glared at the boy a moment before smiling. Sanji didn't notice but Zeff certainly did.

"Oi, don't you have potatoes to peel, eggplant?"

"But!" Sanji looked to the woman in bed and then back to Zeff. "FINE. I'll make the pretty lady a snack too."

Zeff nodded and Goldie smiled at him as he left the room.

"You reek of world government, who are you?" Zeff started.

"I'm…a valued employee of one of the most prestigious world nobles." She really did hate her title.

"Prestigious just means ruthless in that world." Zeff scoffed. Goldie only shrugged. Why deny it? Power was power, how one got it, inconsequential.

"You seem like a shrewd man. How much gold would it take for me to borrow a ship and leave with the boy today?"

"None."

"None? Well that's awfully generous…"

"No, I mean, I'm not going to let him go with you. No matter what gold you offer."

"Then I'm afraid I'll just have to take him." Her hands raised to turn the fool into a rather ugly gold statue when she saw a blur streak toward her and she was sailing through the air out the window as naked as she had been born. Her chest hurt at the impact and she felt tears spring to her eyes as she took a breath of the chilly morning, ocean air. She was flying. She felt free.

Then there was a splash that no one heard and no one but a lone white haired chef from an upstairs window saw.


	11. Forbidden

It was his favorite book and technically it didn't belong to him. He was certainly risking death by multiple peg leg kicks just by here and that he liked the book enough to consider that an acceptable risk should say it all.

At first it was just for clarification or notes on recipes that had him sneaking into the shit geezers room. He had seen Zeff refer to one of his handwritten recipe books when making a lamb dish that looked nothing like lamb but instead a decadent mousse with a Yukon gold mashed potato for faux meringue and the secret was out.

Now when he was sent on a shitty errand or forced to do some project and missed the geezer assembling a particularly intriguing dish it was a simple matter to find it among the collection of cookbooks on the lower shelves of the old mans bookcase later. Sanji quickly jotted down the notes he needed as he referred to the neat and precise script and then high tailed it out of there.

That is until one day when he was done shoving a larger thick volume of recipes back in place and taking a moment to catch his breath he let his curiosity get the better of him. Certainly there were other books here that didn't involve cooking. The small blonds bookshelf looked similar to this one but even he had some light non-food reading. His eyes trailed upward and scanned the titles.

He had a lot of cooking books, that was for damn sure. Still on the upper shelves Sanji recognized a few practical manuals for basic ship repair, first aid, and something called 'The Complete First Timers Guide to the Care and Well Being of Untamed Adolescents' that was still wrapped in plastic. He wasn't sure what a adolescent was but he wasn't about to leave proof of his being here to break the plastic and find out. He figured it was probably some kind of wild pheasant or something.

There was a book after that one about adapting fighting styles after amputation. That word he knew from the doctors that day they had been rescued and Zeff had gotten his peg leg. He swallowed the lump in his throat and moved on. Paperback mysteries were next. Lots of them. They all had catchy names with double meanings. He stood on tippy toes and pulled down a few to read the backs. He would have to borrow some of them. Much like the shitty old man, there was something satisfying about working out a puzzle logically and with an eye toward human preference and human nature.

Next was a leather bound book. It was written in a journal style but the handwriting wasn't like the old man's cook books. It was rough, haphazard and carefree. He quickly learned it was a set of adventure books. He laid down on the floor by the head chefs bed intending to only read a few pages.

A young chef much like him, recruited into piracy after accidentally killing a marine that had forced himself upon the boy's sister. He was so stoic and brave, sticking up for himself to the older pirates that tried to push him around while trying to learn and develop all he could. From cooking to his own fighting style. This guy was his hero.

Sanji suddenly heard Zeff heading down the hall and he pushed the book back in place and got the hell out of there.

He had visited the book many times since that first time. He still hadn't gotten to the end of it though, he would always want to read a chapter or two before the place he had left off so he could remember what had happened.

Had the main character gotten off of the jungle island infested with dinosaurs yet or was he on his way to winning their lovely first mates heart despite being only an awkward apprentice chef? A rag tag pirate crew in search of their dreams in the Grandline. It seemed nice. Well exciting, at least.

He was reading it again. It was at a really interesting part where the captain and first mate had called him in to talk about the young chef's dream. Sanji had been curious up to now, the purpose of sailing with the pirates and was excited to finally see the boy's motivation.

That was the moment Zeff walked in. No. Actually Zeff had been there watching him for a while, he guessed. But that was the moment the bastard made his presence known. He was grab up by the collar of his chef whites and tossed so hard into the hallway his shoulder wouldn't feel right for weeks.

"My room and this book are forbidden, you damn brat! Don't make me teach you a lesson in privacy..."

Sanji didn't like the angry glint in Zeff's eyes at that moment and quickly retreated clutching his arm. He could just picture being made to cook in his underwear or something else mortifying. He muttered the entire way to his room that 'he just wanted to read his damn books' and 'what privacy had he been invading anyway?'.

The old cook looked down at the book in his hand with a sigh before tucking it back on the shelf.

Around the time Sanji's arm felt normal, Zeff had coincidentally built a large bookshelf in his office for them to share. All his cook books and mysteries were there...every book except the pheasant book and Sanji's favorite. Sanji grabbed the big cooks arm when he was done setting it up.

"Can...Can you at least tell me how it ended? The book...the Log one...?" He was looking away shyly like he didn't care but his eyes met Zeff's for an instant. "Please."

Zeff grinned at him suddenly with a surprised chuckle.

"If you really thought about it idiot, you'd realize you already know."

Sanji was still blinking at him with something a kin to confusion and disappointment so he added an afterthought.

"I guess whether or not he gets a happy ending depends on you, brat."

Sanji huffed and stomped away.

"I hate books open to interpretation like that. Either he's happy, damn it, or he's not!"

Zeff smirked as Sanji turned the corner.

"Oh, I'd say he's happy."


	12. Warrior

The warrior looked through the shadows of the trees, scanning, watching, listening. There was a snap of a twig and his head whipped left and there on the hill he saw his target in silhouette. The demon.

A boy as tall as them, thin and proud, wearing the ceremonial red wooden demon mask, looked down on the warrior and then turned as the warrior was joined by another. These two were the only challenge to the demon, the only two who stood a chance at catching up and taking him down.

A quick step backwards and the demon disappeared down the hill, the warriors exchanged a quick grin, took a breath, and then raced after him. The chase was on.

The demon had speed and grace and would hop over fallen trees and rocks like they were nothing. The warriors followed soon behind. They would catch sight of the demon and then he was gone. They'd catch up and he'd suddenly take off.

The two warriors caught their breath on a ridge as they looked down at the two trails below leading into the patch of woods the two knew well.

"This is the best hunt we've ever had. I'd get him by now normally." The first warrior observed with a grin.

"He's not bad. That demon. But I'll be the one to take him down."

"Heh. I don't think so. First one that gets him wins, don't forget. This is our chance, no matter which path he chose it'll come out by the shortcut. One of us will get there first and the other will can loop around."

The other warrior nodded and the two went sprinting down a separate into the woods.

The demon was looking at one of the native lizards in wonder when the second warrior caught up with him.

"Slacking off demon? You'll regret it!"

The demon turned and looked at the warrior.

"You kids do take this stuff seriously, huh? You even died your hair."

"This is my natural color!"

"Sure it is. And for your information, I wasn't slacking off, I was waiting for you guys to catch up a little. I don't want to be doing this all day."

The warrior pulled out the black bandana. To win the hunt, all he had to do was tie his color band around the demons wrist. He prepared the cloth in his hand and lunged at the demon.

"I'll teach you underestimate a warrior!"

The demon dodged easily but he wasn't expecting the warrior to grab his clothing as he went by, pulling the demon around with him and then into his waiting elbow. The wood mask cracked and the part that covered the demons left cheek and mouth snapped off, leaving a cut in the flesh behind. The demon hit the ground and fell on top of him to keep him pinned and get his band on the wrist.

"You cut me, asshole!"

"Suck it up. You're a demon, aren't you?"

The demon stilled beneath the warrior and for a second the warrior was caught by those deep blue eyes beneath the mask. He became increasingly uncomfortable with how close they were, their position, and how his hand was practically holding the demon's in order to get a more controlling grip. In training he was never so close to press against anyone like this.

"I am." Suddenly a leg comes up from out of nowhere and kicks the warrior in the balls. "Demons don't play fair. And you shouldn't underestimate them either!"

The second warrior twisted over in pain.

"Suck it up. You're a warrior, aren't you?" The demon shot back with a now visible smirk. The demon stood and leaned against a tree for a moment, taking the moment to recover from had almost been defeat.

The first warrior dropped from the branches above him and pinned him to the tree. Shocked, the demon drew back a leg.

"That won't work on me…Demon." The first warrior warned him with her softer feminine voice.

The visable cheek through the demon mask started to turn pink and the blue eyes widened.

"You're a girl?"

The warrior girl seemed upset at this reaction and elbowed him in the solarpexus, sending him to the ground to join warrior number two in agony.

"No, I'm the warrior that defeated you." She hissed victoriously as she knotted her white arm band around his wrist.

"Then it's my pleasure to be beaten by someone so worthy…and cute."

"Oh…" She stammered for a second, realizing it was just surprise at her gender and not any sort of judgment on it and not sure how to react to any compliment not tied to strength or skill. So she just smiled and nodded at the demon.

A shrill whistle echoed around the forest and the two looked at the second warrior, who was blowing on the silver whistle meant to signify the end of the exhibition and that there had been a winner decided.

The second warrior shrugged.

"I'll defeat you next time."

"Che, I wouldn't count on it."

"I was talking to HER."

"I know you were IDIOT. Obviously she's BETTER."

When Sensei found them a little while later, the demon and the second warrior were still rolling around on the ground fighting each other while the first warrior girl just watched with an amused smile.

Later at the Baratie, after a band aid had been applied and Sanji was drinking a cup of tea with the shitty old man out of his brand new tea set, Zeff asked him the question.

"So, was it worth it?"

"It is a nice tea set." Sanji fingered the glass after a moment and grinned. "And there are other kids working hard too."

Sometimes it was hard to see. The only kids he ever saw were the children of customers and even if you counted the ones his age or older they all seemed stupid, lazy, ill mannered, and unmotivated. Not serious.

He had felt like a freak. The kids on that island though, especially those two. They worked hard for something. It was something good to learn.

"And if they need another demon for next years festival?"

Sanji remembered running through the woods and how each warrior had pinned him differently and how each seemed so alive.

"Yeah. I'd do it again."


	13. Dive

"Please, Sanji-chan?" The nurse begged in such an endearing and pleading tone that Sanji forgave the addition of chan to his name.

"I don't want to." He huffed.

"Huh? But whyyyy?" She whined overdramatically as some people do when trying to connect with kids. "The water's so nice and warm!" She splashes the water at the blond boy playfully. "Isn't this fun?"

No. Yes, the pool was inviting and five years from now he'll remember this nurse in a fantasy with a smaller bikini and larger chest dragging an older him into the pool with far less innocent motives then to help a previously starving boy recuperate his strength and attempt to cheer him. At the moment it was the last thing he wanted.

"Where's the old man? He hasn't died yet, has he?" Sanji changed the subject with ease. Apparently a boy bringing up death at all sent the nurses into fits of anxiety trying to calm him or reassure him when he needs neither. He knew Zeff was going to be okay and probably going through his own more painful version of legless rehab because of him.

A sad look crossed his features now and it wasn't hard for the nurses to mistake profound guilt and regret as anxious worry. The nurse hugged Sanji, pulled him tight right into her large, wet, smooshily ample breasts. Never in the heights of perverted fantasy did Sanji draw on this moment for inspiration. For just a moment this woman was hugging him not too unlike his mother used to and it did comfort him.

"Oh my poor boy, he's going to be okay! In fact…"

"He's wondering what's taking the damn brat so long getting into the pool."

Sanji looked up from his warm wet breast sanctuary in surprise.

"See!" She cooed much too happily. "He's joining us at the pool today!"

Zeff was leaning on a crutch, his stump jutting down from new swim trunks, clean and jagged stitching standing out brightly black on white puckered flesh.

"One second sir and I'll help you in!"

Zeff snorted and tossed the crutch away, teetered for a moment before a short break and taking a long and perfectly elegant dive into the pool.

Sanji held his breath in awe. Even after what going into the water had cost him last time he was willing to go to back in.

For a second there was thrashing as Zeff had trouble balancing himself up above water and Sanji took a panicked step or two in the water before Zeff surfaced and looked at the blond.

"Hey, you know how to swim right?"

Yes he did. He LOVED swimming. He was great at it. So how can he explain how he drowned and needed saving? He wasn't sure if he had gone into shock or just passed out and somehow going back in the water again when he had drowned in such recent memory scared him, not to mention the fact that the last time his drowning led to Zeff being stranded, starved, and losing half a leg didn't help matters.

"Can you swim Sanji-chan?" The nurse coaxed.

"Better than a shitty old man."

Zeff didn't look at the boy, instead disinterestedly wrung out his braided mustache as he spoke.

"Too chicken shit to prove it? Brats who can't swim have no place living on the sea."

_He wasn't worried? Being in the same water with him?_

_What if I drown?_

_I won't, I can swim._

_That didn't help last time._

_He's here. He might not save me, but I'll prove he won't have to- ever again._

Sanji backed up. The nurse looked worried. Sanji ran and sailed in a long graceful arc. A near perfect dive.

He kicked to the surface and grinned smugly, only not to see the old man.

"Huh? Where?" He did not see the half face and mustache rise ominously from the deep behind him.

"SHARK!" A deep voice shouted in his ear as a strong hand grabbed onto his vulnerable stomach with such force the boy shrieked.

"EEEE!"

"There are no sharks in a pool, idiot." Zeff sighed at his future idiot apprentice. He pretended like hell his attack hadn't somehow morphed into tickling the idiot boy within an inch of his life either.

"HE! HE! HE! I know that bastard! STOP! Let me go!" He tried to say something else but another onslaught had him breaking down into a fit of giggles and Zeff raised an eyebrow.

"Not a chance."

The ocean was an enticing and scary place. He was glad he wouldn't be alone.


	14. Choice of Vision

"We can't save the eye."

Zeff grumbled at the diagnosis and looked at the small blond who was picking at the corner of the bandage that landed on his cheek. The boy was stoic, expecting that result it seemed. The slight momentary wince was the only thing at all that indicated he had heard the doctor at all.

"Alright, let's hear it. Why?"

"Well it appears his eye was ruptured before going overboard." The doctor pulls up a detailed diagram of the human eye and points to the back of it. "The optic nerve was damaged and the seawater certainly didn't help. Combined with malnutrition and dehydration there is no natural way for him to regain his sight in that eye."

Sanji and Zeff exchanged curious looks at that. This time Sanji spoke up.

"But...there are un-natural ways?"

"Well sure! there are a few devil fruits that could reverse it, heal it, or make a nonfunctional eye moot with a new ability like sonar! Devil fruit are rare but I get a great price from an old friend of mine..."

"Pass!" Zeff and Sanji cut him off in unison. Zeff glared at the doctor with the sinking worry of what kind of doctor his long time former crewmate might have become. Sanji was secretly holding out for one devil fruit in particular that he knew wouldn't do jack for HIS vision as far as being seen by others though...

Zeff changed his glare to the brat when it appeared the kid was muffling disturbing giggles.

"Well...there's also been great advances in nanobot cyber technology! It's a newer science but Dr. Vegapunk is making amazing advances blending flesh and technology everyday! How does a cybernetic eye sound?"

"Risky." Zeff offered.

"Painful!" Sanji agrees.

"We-llll...it is a new technology so one would be reasonable to expect some inconsistency flaws at first and time for the body to adjust to the electronic feedback on the nerves, actually it's a bit expensive too but I can get you a great rate..."

"Pass."

Sanji didn't want the old man spending the last of his savings on him. Zeff didn't want his eggplant going through constant pain for a procedure that MIGHT restore SOME of his vision.

The doctor sighed.

"The only option left is really just a rumor my fa...er...mother told me. She's a doctor too, traveled all around the Grandline and the new world. She told me of a pink paradise filled with maidens, princesses, and queens. On that island there exists a cuisine that when made by a master can heal any past injury."

Zeff ushered Sanji out of the doctors office several minutes later with a sigh and an occasional kick to the behind.

"But...whyyyyy? All I have to do is eat some food! From princesses! Let's go!"

"Listen kid, you're too young for the Grandline and you already want a legendary ocean. Wanting to go to a legendary island too is just too greedy. You can try to find it when you're older but if you've seen his mother I think you'd change your mind. That cure and that island, if it exists- they're going to have some very hairy strings attached."

Sanji bit his tongue, not wanting to press the issue, but his mind was made up. He was going to see those princesses one day he knew it!


	15. Mackeral Raft

Zeff crossed his arms and waited for the explanation. Sanji looked at his meager progress of half hammered bent nails in procured wood, obviously fruit crates in a former life from not too long ago.

"Well?"

Sanji kicked his little legs and struggled in Patty's burly arms but not making contact, Patty since learning his lesson from the last time kept the small cook at arms length and far away from sensitive areas below the belt.

Carne was poking around the kids pile of purloined tools and pulled out a large rolled picture of a mackerel head of some kind. After looking at it a minute he smirked and handed it over to Zeff.

"Boss, it's some kind of raft."

Zeff looked at the plan and to the kid, who made a noise and pointedly looked away after a tense second.

"It's more than a shitty raft asshole! Look again! It has paddles built in by the feet! I wouldn't just float where ever. I could go where I wanted!

Zeff gave a sharp look, too tumultuous to read.

"Running away from home Eggplant? You want it bad enough to sneak away from the kitchen and risk your hands the chance to play shipwright…"

Sanji became still.

"Huh? Why the hell would I run away! I told you I'd make the restaurant happen! You'll never get rid of me!"

A flash of something crossed Zeff face as he glared into the small blueprint and then stared into the small blue eye intently.

"Then why?"

Sanji looked about to say something but snapped his mouth shut and looked away as an embarrassed tinge of pink started to color his cheeks. Zeff stared at the boy and sighed as realization dawned on him. The corner of his lips quirked up slightly.

"Put the brat down, Patty. I get what he was trying to do now."

"The hell you do, old man!" The small cook yelled as his feet touched the ground. But Patty noted the kid didn't run and seemed more curious than upset.

"You realized a floating restaurant is in fact a ship…"

"Duh, of course it…" Sanji was cute short as Zeff nodded and a huge chef hat started whacking him on the head. "Ouch!"

"And ships sink! And there is not even a damn rock to be seen…"

The boy closed his eyes, caught, and still deciding what to do about it. Zeff cocked his head and took another look at the plans.

"A paddleboat huh? With first aid, emergency food, water filtration, and shelter…and are these weapons? Not a bad idea kid." He hands the curled paper back to Carne. "Oi. Bring this to the actual shipwright on the next supply run and get some quotes." He looked at the now astonished curly browed cook. "No more distractions! Wash your hands, get back to the kitchen, and bring any other nonsense to me first! Got that eggplant?"

Sanji cursed and hustled back toward the galley but there us a tiny grin and the old cook turned gruffly on his other cooks.

"You two clean this up, and hurry. We have a dinner rush to prepare for!"

"US?"

Zeff gave a stern look and the two nodded with an apologetic 'yes chef' as the master cook followed after the boy, secretly glad to be stuck with a bratty, baby eggplant a bit longer.


	16. God

Sanji is NOT scared. Worried, maybe.

"If God exists, then she's got to be a woman."

Sanji watched the storm out of the dinning room portholes nervously. Baratie was a tough ship, new, she should be handle the seemingly monstrous waves. She was built to be stable and endure.

Unlike the Orbit.

"I SAID, if God exists, then she's got to be a woman."

The small cook turned from where he stood frozen watching the violence outside to the shitty old man waiting patiently for Sanji to make it to the table with the tea pot. He pushed his anxiety aside, hiding it under a grumpy pout.

"What are you babbling about old man? You think we are about to die or something?"

Zeff pushed his empty tea cup forward with a glare and Sanji filled it silently, waiting for whatever foolishness the head chef wanted to impart on him this time.

"Even when she's furious and pissed as hell there is something beautiful and magestic about her." He started again, looking out to the sea. "And it's near impossible to figure out what a woman wants from you to please her, so you just gotta do your best and hope it's enough. And tons of people think their girl is perfect and can do no wrong, and fight over her to get her approval or attention." He took a sip of steaming tea. "And sometimes you think she's so cruel, ripping your heart out, only to learn she was giving you something precocious you never even knew you needed." He leveled an eye at Sanji.

The storm picked up outside, rattling the doors, the windows, and the cups in the galley. The lights flashed for a moment and panic started to surge through him again.

"What do you think, brat?" Zeff's voice cut through the momentary darkness and reminded him he wasn't alone as it distracted him from outside.

"A woman, huh?" His voice came out quiet. He closed his eyes. "Sounds nice." He gave a small smile as he opened his eyes less scared. Or worried. Not scared.

If a woman killed him for seemingly no reason, he could accept it better than the random abyss taking him for it's own. He's try not to die, he'd dodge her attacks, but in the end if it happened, it happened and he would have to be satisfied that he tried his best.

His eyes flicked to the old man to say so when there was loud crash of thunder and a flash of lightning. He was calmer now but eyes fell upon Zeff's wooden, not there leg. All of the memories of losing the Orbit. Of almost losing the old man. The blame and guilt he lobbed mostly to himself. Mostly.

"Girls are easier to forgive too, aren't they?"

Zeff took another sip and closed his eyes as if he somehow understood and with nod agreed.

"Yes, they are."


	17. Swamp

This was the stupidest thing the old man ever had him do for the sake of training. Most gross and unpleasant too. The swamp reeked of sewage and as the small blond had his food unexpectedly sucked back into the muck causing him to smack face down in it, he knew just how close it felt and tasted like it too.

A quick inventory told him disaster had been avoided and all of his mason jars and their contents were intact and accounted for. He carefully put the items gently back in his sack. Swamp gas in yellow, green, and blue. A flightless swamp bat. Thick beetles the size of his fingers that had a name he couldn't pronounce. A thick Fiddlehead Cotton Caterpillar. A Gray Speckled Gecko. Ten honey pot ants. A vine rat. A water snake. And worst of all, two Creeping Moss Spiders.

Those two spiders he collected had been a NIGHTMARE. Jumping up to so agilely collect both in the jar in one motion, only to have the whole mossy nest fall on him and come face to face with the huge, ugly , spider king crawling across his face (It had to be a king, he refused to think of a queen being so hideously ugly, big, and hairy. Terrifying.) He wasn't sure he'd be able to face another creepy crawler (let alone, spider) after that incident without freaking out.

He trudged slowly to the edge of the muck cursing the old man out the entire way. Swamp training should be manning the shitty restaurant while it was busy as hell. Swamped. Not whatever the hell this was! An actual god damned swamp! His skin was going to look like he had some kind of diseases for days if the mosquito bites he felt beginning to itch across his skin where any indication.

Finally he could sweep a branch away and the muddy swam bleed into perfect blue sea and the muck beneath his feet was firm silt and dear god! He could see them again! He shielded his eyes against the glare of the suns reflection off the surface and frowned in annoyance as he spotted the old man in the row boat a small swim away.

The very sight was at once a relief and an annoyance. How relaxed the bastard looked, fishing hat hanging over his eyes, skin shinning with sun screen, his legs propped up on a cooler against his rod as his fishing line bobbed in the water.

"OI! I got everything except the purple swamp pervert! Can I come back now?"

Zeff pushed the tip of his hat up and his mustache twitched in hidden amusement as he regarded the boy.

"Purple Swamp Leech, not letch, pervert eggplant! And if that's all you're missing then you just have to jar the one hanging off your left ear!"

Sanji froze as his eyes widened and his right hand reached up and came in contact to the unnoticed purple vampiric slug. He let out a horrified squeak as he shakily pulled the disgusting creature from his flesh and put it into it's own empty jar.

He hated the swamp.

Sanji looked up when done checking for any other evil slugs on him, only to notice the boat was gone from it's previous spot, already being rowed away by the old bastard.

"HEY!"

"What's taking you so long brat! The longer you take bringing the provisions, the longer it'll take for me to show you how to use them to make us lunch!"

Sanji cursed as he started to swim with the ingredients over his back. He wanted to complain, he was hungry, tired, dirty, but at least this swim felt like training.

And he was sure despite the gross ingredients Zeff would turn them into something really, unforgettably delicious.

And he did.


End file.
